It’s getting to be that time of year again. You know where you have to scour the Internet, rack your brain, and walk the isles of Target trying to get inspiration for gifts. Each year seems to get harder to find those “perfect” gifts. Try something a little different this year. Gifts you can give from your garden can be a great place to start.
When you come up with gifts from your garden, you can personalize your gifting. Whether you have a completely handmade item or something combined with store-bought, you will have a unique gift that your friends and family members will love. Here are some creative ideas to get you started.
The Best Garden-Inspired Gift Ideas…
Bouquet-A-Month
Don’t you love those monthly gift packs? You know, the ones where you get a box of fruit or candy each month for a year. Well, how about giving a very special friend a bouquet-a-month? The original gift can be a winter bouquet using store-bought flowers and greens from your yard. Then each month during the year, you supply your friend with a small bouquet from your garden. Make your bouquets seasonal to use what’s available. So give daffodils and tulips in March, lilacs in April, sunflowers in August, etc. Use whatever flowers and greens you have growing for these lovely bouquets.
Be sure to choose a specific day each month and write it on your calendar so that you don’t forget about your bouquets. This is the ultimate gift that keeps giving beautiful flowers to that extra-special friend or family member.
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Flower Starting Kit
Create a flower kit for your friend. Fill a basket with a variety of flower seed packets, bulbs that are available, a pair of garden gloves, and a small hand tool. Include some paperwhite bulbs or an indoor plant, so your friend can enjoy planting something this winter while she waits to plant her outdoor treasures.
Making your own seed packets is an extra special touch. If you have an abundance of seeds that you saved this year, make some seed packets to include in the gift basket. You can create your own empty packets, use glassine bags, or purchase tiny envelopes from a stationery store.
Related: How To Save Flower Seeds From Your Garden
Winter Wreath
This time of year, there are not a lot of flower options to choose from in our gardens. But you can make a lovely winter wreath from evergreens and shrubs. Start with a base of pine boughs then add in different textures such as fir and cedar branches. For color contrast, you can use some sage from your herb garden or some evergreen shrubs. Add in a few embellishments such as pinecones and finish with a colorful ribbon for a wonderful front porch gift.
Garden Book
This year, share the gift of knowledge with your recipient. Pick out a lovely garden book on a topic that your friend wants to learn about. It could be a book about growing cut flowers, putting in a vegetable or kitchen garden, or even crafting in the garden. There are so many wonderful books available. You could also give a subscription to your favorite garden magazine.
Whether a beginner or an experienced gardener, books open up so many ideas for us to explore. It’s never too late to learn new skills for your garden.
Here are some great books and magazines to consider:
- Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden
- Shed Decor
- Annuals, Perennials, and Bulbs
- The Flower Gardener’s Bible
- The Crafty Gardener
- The Flower Workshop
- Kitchen Garden Revival
- Gifts from the Garden
Foods From The Garden
Even though the garden season has passed, it’s not too late to create a food item to give. If you had a bumper crop of any produce or herbs, you can use that to make a special treat for your friend or family member. The nice thing about food is that we all have to eat and giving a food gift means you don’t need to know their tastes. So if you have a freezer full of berries or rhubarb, you can make jam. If you harvested and dried lots of herbs, you could make seasoning blends.
Here are a few food options that are easy to make.
- Dried herb blends
- Fruit jam
- Apple butter or pumpkin butter
- Apple cider
- Flavored salts or sugars
- Herbal tea blends
- Berry syrup with pancake mix
- Dried elderberry kits
- Quick bread such as pumpkin or zucchini bread
- Fruit pie
Flower Craft
If you preserved any of your flowers this past season, you could create a lovely one-of-a-kind gift. Dried and pressed flowers can be used to make a variety of items. Use dried flowers to make pot-pourri. Fill a vintage container such as a soup tureen with your pot-pourri mix for a wonderful fragrant gift. Arrange dried flowers along with grasses in a watering can or pitcher. Dried flowers can also be used in homemade soaps and bath salts. Use pressed flowers to make a trio of framed pictures or use them to make gift tags and bookmarks.
If you don’t have any dried flowers this year from your garden, you can still make some of these lovely gifts by purchasing the dried flowers. Craft stores and even Amazon sell beautiful dried flowers to use for making gifts.
Garden Tool Box
It’s always nice to start the gardening season out with new tools and supplies. Find a vintage toolbox or purchase a new basket or bag and fill it with the gardener’s tools of the trade. You could include items such as new garden gloves, a spade, hand rake, knife, and clippers. Include some special hand cream for a gift that will keep on giving all year long.
Garden-Inspired Organizing Supplies
Make or purchase garden-themed gifts to help your friend get her life organized. You could include a garden journal, a daily planner, a calendar, notepads, and note cards. If you’re very crafty, you could create your own note cards using pressed flowers from your garden. But whether you make or purchase these items, helping your friend to organize her life and gardening activities will get the year started off right!
Garden Decor
For someone extra special, you might give a garden decor item they would enjoy. This could be a new birdbath, a porch swing, a vintage door, or garden gate. Consider your friend’s garden style and shop for items that will match her style. If you like diy projects you could make garden signs, chalkboards, or birdhouses for the garden and shed.
When you give gifts from your garden you won’t need to spend as much time walking the isles of Target or Home Goods. And you won’t have to spend hours looking through websites. Some of these gift ideas can be created to give as hostess gifts such as Raspberry Jam or Apple butter. Others can be created and given to individuals such as the Garden Tool Box or Chalkboard Sign. Using garden-inspired gift ideas for creating Christmas gifts can make holiday shopping so much easier.